Tag: skincare

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox x Pinterest

ramblingmads

Captioned “Best. Year. Ever” Birchbox kicks off 2016 with a collaboration with online scrapbook site Pinterest.

image

Pinning has become a huge trend, with people compiling their dream weddings, cars, cakes, shoes and other things onto Pinterest’s digital mood boards. I do it too. Much handier than covering my walls in magazine cuttings like we did pre-internet. (Yes, there was such a time).

So how does a collab between a beauty box and a website work exactly? Well, inside the beauty booklet are suggestions for boards to create on Pinterest for the upcoming year. There are also five cute cards designed by illustrator Viktorija Semjonova in keeping with the theme. The Birchbox blog will have more throughout the year.

image

Onto the beauty samples.

image

There are five products in the box, and annoyingly some of them have been here before.

image

Left to Right.

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle – I’ve had this little chap several times in the past. While it does work quite well as a dentangler, so does my conditioner.

Absolution L’Eau Soir et Martin – basically a micellar water, 2015’s big product. Containing aloe vera and hazelnut oil, a no rinse required make up remover.

Benefit They’re Real! Tinted Primer – apparently this coats and seperates lashes before your mascara. Or on its own.

Birchbox pocket mirror.

Jelly Pong Pong Lighten Up Brightener + Waterliner – I definitely have one of these, I used it the other day. Suppose it saves me buying a new one. It’s a great highlighter pencil, scribble it on!

Whish Three Whishes Almond Body Butter – I am all about almonds, I eat them, drink them (almond milk hot chocolate anyone?) and smother them on my skin and hair so this’ll be a little treat for my skin.

image

Are you a Birchbox subscriber? What did you think about this box? Let me know below.

ramblingmads

beauty, haircare, healthy, make up, skincare

Skincare Saviours in the Winter Weather

ramblingmads

January is finally here and with it more drizzly, wet, cold, miserable weather. Which is hell on skin, even if it’s not as ridiculously sensitive as mine!

Here are my tips and tricks for happy skin in the New Year.

💜 Drink water. An obvious one – what you put in your body is what you get out. We’re 75% water, and without it your skin struggles. It helps keep skin soft and plump, slows down wrinkles, and cleans up the gunk that becomes spots.

💜 Moisturise! water inside – moisture outside. Find one that works for you and slap it on, even if you’re just sitting around the house without make up – feed your skin. Central heating doesn’t help.

image
Current favourite moisturiser

💜 Cleanse – personally I think washing my face is a brilliant way to perk up. I always feel a bit more awake and alive with a clean face. Since I got a sonic brush (use once a week) I definitely see a difference.

💜 Don’t neglect your smile. Lips have thinner skin than the rest of your face. Skin that is more prone to cracking and peeling. Invest in a good lip balm. I have dozens, and top up throughout the day.

image
The best lip balm ever!

💜 But I can’t see my own nose! With winter comes colds, flu and other nasty bugs. Constant nose blowing leaves the skin around your nostrils damaged, dry and unhappy. A bit of extra moisture never goes awry – a dab of good ol’ Vaseline should do the trick.

image
Vaseline & Dr Lipp - dry skin beware!

💜 Don’t sleep in your make up. Seriously. This is horrid. I admit I have done this in the past (I blame the booze) but that way lies breakouts and blocked pores. Invest in a decent make up remover/cleanser and take the face off before you crash.

image
Loving these at the moment.

💜 Show your hair some love too. Don a hair turban and let a mask soak in, wash out the pollution and rub in some argan oil. I swear by it – no more split ends and happier hair – brilliant!

image
Shiny hair ahoy!

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, reviews, skincare, you beauty

November You Beauty Discovery Box

ramblingmads

This month I was a bit disappointed by the choices offered by YBD. There were three shades of wands to hide grey roots, which luckily I don’t yet have to worry about, a Gin & Tonic perfume spritz, eye gel, facial oil and bubble bath.

image

I picked the eye gek and bubble jelly, but for some reason I’ve been sent a facial oil instead, as well as the bubble jelly.

image

The bonus items are a bit lacking – a sample sachet of shower gel (which we had two months ago) and a sheet mask sample.

To be honest this month’s box was poor altogether. I hope their December one, the last of the year, has a bit more zip to it.

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, perfume, reviews, skincare, you beauty

You Beauty Discovery Box – October

ramblingmads

Every month I um and ah about whether to cancel this box. Then there’s a really good one (like September’s skin care special) and I stay. When it’s good, the £6.95 is totally worth it, a bargain in fact but then there’s month’s like this.

image

I really struggled to pick my two samples, as I didn’t really like any of them. Nothing jumped out at me, waving and shouting. It was all a bit meh.

In the end I went with a product I will inevitably use and one I will try.

Roger & Gallet Gingembre Rouge body lotion and perfume samples – I slather body lotion on my dry legs every morning after a shower and I tend to be fairly indiscriminate about what I use. The scent is inspired by Zanzibar and has hints of ginger – though it smells very floral to me.

image

The other item I picked was Kore’s Foaming Cleanser, Pearl Revitalising Toner and Pearl Gentle Exfoliator Trio. Kore is not a brand I’ve come across before – from Australia, free from animal testing and parabens.

Also in the box:  The White Company’s Day and Night perfume samples and Vichy Dermablend corrective foundation samples in shades 15 (opal) and 25 (nude).

image

Not overwhelmed by this month’s box. If November’s is as naff, I think I’ll be speaking with my purse and saying sayonara to You Beauty. 

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, haircare, latest in beauty, make up, nail polish, reviews, skincare

Latest in Beauty – Heart Beauty Essentials

ramblingmads

Latest in Beauty loves the radio as it’s collaborations with Capital FM and Heart demonstrate.

image

This beauty box in conjunction with my Dad’s favourite station (he always has it blaring away in the van) is jam packed.

Bloom & Blossom Bath and Shower Gel

Dirty Works 4-in-1 Face Wipes

Kitsch Prima Ballerina Hair Ties

image

Lola Electric Purple Nail Polish

Nuxe Creme Moisturizing Cream

Indeed Labs Hydraluron Moisture Mask

Roger & Gallet Lait Sorbet Bois d’Orange Body Lotion

image

Rimmel London Provocalips

Philosophy the microdelivery peel

Urban Veda Hydrating Toner

image

Also included are discount vouchers for some of the brands included.

image

I think I will be making use of all of these goodies, most of the brands are already in my beautifying arsenal.

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birthday splurge

ramblingmads

Yesterday I had a meeting in town and as I was in Central London I thought I’d pop into Selfridges and spend some birthday money (the rest is reserved for shoes).

image

I get serious shopping envy in Selfridges, there’s so many gorgeous things but my budget doesn’t stretch as far as I’d like.

I decided to hit up the Beauty Hall. So many gorgeous things. I made a beeline for the Clinique counter, I fancied a new chubby stick for eyes.  After scribbling a few testers on my hand, I picked shade 04 Ample Amber, a soft golden colour, perfect for all over eyelid glow or a hit of gold on my lash line.

While I was there I also picked up the face wash that goes with my sonic cleanser – a great way to get my pores scrubbed out. I also got two freebies – a chubby stick for lips in Super Strawberry and a sample of their superprimer.

Then I decided to check out the Birchbox build your own birthday pop-up. As you do.

image

I couldn’t resist building a box – picking 6 samples and getting two bonus items exclusive to subscribers. I picked what I think is a good mix of goodies.

image

I wandered about eyeing up the Tom Ford counter (gorgeous packaging) and trying out some new perfume ideas. If I had the cash, there would have been such a splurge!

image

image

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, reviews, skincare

September You Beauty Discovery

ramblingmads

This month is the skincare edition and all of the items are skin friendly.

image

As always you can select two items for your box and this month they’re full size.

image

I picked AA Skincare Professionals Seaweed & Aloe Refreshing Eye Gel. This multi use product is suitable for all skin types, removes make up, soothes and cools tired eyes. I rarely buy eye cream or gel as I’ve had some bad reactions but my recent bout of insomnia has left me looking like a sad panda so hopefully this will help make me look less like I have black eyes.

image

The other item I picked is Urban Veda Sandalwood + Botanics Soothing Day Cream. I’ve been trying different moisturisers on the days when I’m going make up free – my favourites are still currently Lush’s Celestial and Garnier’s Rose Water day cream, but I like the sound of this one and it smells nice.

image

Also included in the box is a sample of Linwoods Milled Chia Seed, a soft make up sponge and a sample of Body Shop’s new Oils of Life facial oil. There is also a Body Shop Love Your Body Club membership card and as always discounts on all the brands available to select from. All this for £6.95.

image

This is a better box than some have been in the last few months so I’m quite impressed. It’s nice to see full size items and a focus on a particular theme.

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, reviews, skincare

You Beauty Discover Box – June

ramblingmads

My May box went AWOL in the post so skip forward to this month’s box.

This is one of the cheaper beauty boxes at £6.95 a month, so it doesn’t contain as much as others.

image

You pick two of the items to be included.

I chose Sanctuary Spa’s Luxurious Body Butter and Amie’s Morning facial wash & moisturiser.

image

The other items I received are ;

Urban Fruit Smashing Strawberry snack pack – this is something I buy quite a lot, dried strawberries, that taste yummy.

Clipper tea – red berries and green tea bags. Clipper teas are very nice but this is supposed to be a beauty box.

image

Good to go anywhere wipes – sanitizing wet wipe, absorbent dry tissue, cleansing wet wipe trio.

image

Inside their guide to your box are discount vouchers for each of the brands I could have picked from.

To be honest this wasn’t a great box – the items were a bit scatter shot and confused. Hopefully if my May box ever arrives it’ll be better!

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, lifestyle, make up, my little box, reviews, skincare

My Little Provence Box

ramblingmads

After a delay in posting (don’t ask) my May MLB is finally here. Here’s my thoughts.

image

Provence in France is supposed to be a beautiful place. Blue skies, fields of lavender, so it’s no surprise that My Little Box has taken inspiration from it.

image

However I have my reservations about this box.

Provence is the home of cult beauty brand L’Occitane and this box feels like an homage to that company, and having recently had a sample box from L’Occitane, this felt a little repetitive (although not everyone will feel this way).

image

As always the box is beautifully presented (above are my unboxing pics). Inside is a slightly confused selection.

image

There have been a lot of blogger and Facebook complaints about this box, and how MLB seem to be a bit muddled about who their box is aimed up – not for the first time.

The stickers in the My Little Super Box caused the same moans, this time it’s magnets. I will most likely give them to my friend’s little girls to play with, although they are very nice, I don’t need more fridge magnets.

image

Most of the actual beauty items are L’Occitane, Verbena soap, Verbena body lotion, Mer & Mistral body wash, Rose hand cream. They also included a My Little Beauty eye shadow crayon. They come in a themed mini canvas bag.

image
Eye crayon - a brown with a little shimmer

The lifestyle item is a gold cuff bracelet with two shades of blue thread so you can personalise it (check out their Instagram for ideas).

image

MLB are always pretty generous with the box contents – for £10 this box is worth about £40. There is also a L’Occitane voucher (that ran out on May 31st).

There is, as always, a copy of their My Little World magazine. However they’ve changed the format and now it opens out like a poster, which makes it harder to look through. There’s also a cute illustrated quote card, which will find a home on my wardrobe inspiration wall.

All in all, not thrilled with this box, I prefer a wider selection of products, not an advert for one company. Hopefully June’s box will do better. Still fancy a trip to Provence though!

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

June’s Birchbox – Step Outside with French Sole

ramblingmads

This month’s gimmick was select your box design. I went with the pick ‘n’ mix pattern.

image

To be completely honest I am not impressed with this month’s selection.

image

Temporary tattoos! I last wore these age 6 or 7. I am far too old and more likely to get a real one than wear these.

Another mascara – I think I get one of these every other month. I can’t even use them. There were other make up items hinted at, but no, another mascara.

Oil is an ingredient in much of the rest of the box.
Nude ProGenius treatment oil – applied after cleansing to boost skin’s hydration.
Beauty Protector Protect & Oil – hair oil that claims to protect against UV and heat damage.

English Laundry No. 7 For Her – perfume sample – adapted from a men’s fragrance, this is quite musky and a little too heavy for me.

Cowshed Body Lotion in Knackered Cow – contains essential oils of lavender and eucalyptus.

ModelCo Powerlash Black Mascara – another mascara, hot on the heels of the last one.

STYLondon Temporary Metallic Tattoos – nope, not even going there.

Bonus lifestyle item – a shoe bag designed by French Sole in matching design to the box. What a disappointing item – don’t see it getting much use.

image
Not shown - temporary tattoos - they seem to have run away!

Birchbox seems to vacillate between good and pretty poor. This wasn’t my favourite by a long shot. I think they’re not entirely sure who their customers are – which is weird considering you do a questionnaire on the site.

ramblingmads